


Way Down We Go

by acooper9716



Category: Outer Banks (TV)
Genre: F/M, Hallucinations, Language, Original Characters - Freeform, Post 1x10, Post-Finale, Song fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:40:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24523252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acooper9716/pseuds/acooper9716
Summary: John B meant every word that left his mouth as he yelled into the radio, “I’m coming for you.” His focus was keeping control of The Phantom and Sarah near him, but in the back of his mind, he knew screaming “You killed my father and framed me for a murder I didn’t commit,” was bound to capture the attention of the police and state officers gathered around the marine radio.If John B was going to fall tonight during a tropical storm, Ward Cameron was going down with him.-Loosely based upon "Way Down We Go" by KALEO
Relationships: JJ & Kiara & Pope (Outer Banks), Sarah Cameron/John B. Routledge
Comments: 2
Kudos: 34





	Way Down We Go

**Author's Note:**

> I highly recommend listening to the stripped-down version of "Way Down We Go" by KALEO before reading to get an idea for the mood of this fic. When I listened to the song shortly after watching episode 1x10, my brain conjured up a whole montage of events after the finale, but it centered primarily around the Cameron family, and their (hopefully inevitable) fall from grace.
> 
> Trigger warning: language, mentions of alcohol, hallucinations

_Oh, father, tell me, do we get what we deserve? Oh, we get what we deserve, and way down we go…_

John B meant every word that left his mouth as he yelled into the radio, “I’m coming for you.” His focus was keeping control of The Phantom and Sarah near him, but in the back of his mind, he knew screaming “You killed my father and framed me for a murder I didn’t commit,” was bound to capture the attention of the police and state officers gathered around the marine radio.

If John B was going to fall tonight during a tropical storm, Ward Cameron was going down with him.

~

_Oh you let your feet run wild, time has come as we all oh, go down, yeah, but for the fall, my, do you dare to look him right in the eyes? Oh, ‘cause they will run you down, down ‘til the dark… yeah, ‘til you can’t crawl no more, and way down we go._

Ward Cameron thought lying through his teeth and framing John B for hurting him and for Peterkin’s death on the tarmac would solve all his problems. He’d get on a plane to the Bahamas with the Royal Merchant’s gold and spend the rest of the summer surrounded by his riches. He’d never work another day in his life.

He thought begging the young man escaping with his oldest daughter to turn their boat around under the guise of safety and loving his daughter would be enough to convince him to return to land. Even the promise to make everything right might have sounded enticing to anyone else.

There was one thing he never saw coming: his world shattering beneath him as John B screamed “You killed my father and you framed me for a murder I didn’t commit,” over the radio for Deputy Shoupe and the SBI agents to hear. He could see the men shifting behind him from the corner of his eye.

“Mr. Cameron, we are taking you down to the station. I think it’s in your best interest that you come quietly. We need to have a little chat,” Deputy Shoupe rests a firm hand on his right shoulder. The deputy’s silent message was clear: he wasn’t leaving.

Ward’s body began shaking as he gasped for air. He may have just lost one of his daughters in a storm at sea. His oldest shot a sheriff in cold blood to redeem himself the day before and was under the thumb of a drug dealer. He could feel every ounce of control he once had over his family slowly slipping out of his fingertips.

“I need to get home- I need to tell Rose, Wheezie- My daughter is out there with a killer,” Ward stumbles out of his seat in an attempt to escape the tent. _I need to get out of here,_ he thought to himself.

The SBI agent stepped in front of him and gripped his arms, “Mr. Cameron, I understand that this is a very stressful situation, but there are some new developments and the way you are behaving gives me reason to believe that something that young man said on the radio is true.”

Deputy Shoupe steps up behind Ward, caging him in, “I will take care of calling Rose. We’re going to do everything we can to find Sarah and John B.”

~

Ward was nervous. He knew Rose was in the building- he could hear her yelling at an officer down the hall, but he wasn’t sure why she hadn’t come in to see him yet.

_What is Rose doing?_

When the door flew open, he understood why she didn’t immediately come in and he felt more dread fill him. Rose marched into the room with Wheezie and Rafe, followed closely by Carson Jackson, his lawyer.

“What the hell is going on? Why did I get a call from Shoupe telling me to come down here and to bring the kids with no further explanation?” Rose exclaimed.

Ward slowly stands up and glances at Carson. “Carson, thanks for coming down,” he offered his hand to shake, “but do you mind stepping outside for a moment? I need to tell my family something.”

As soon as the other man left the room, he turned and looked at his family with tears in his eyes, “Sarah is missing. She went out on a boat with John B as the storm rolled in, and we lost contact with the two of them.”

The room was silent.

~~~

Rose Cameron may appear to not care about much except her appearance and drinking, but she knew that Big John’s death weighed heavily on her husband’s conscious. However, she knew he desired the missing gold far more and would do anything to get his hands on it, even if it meant framing a teenage boy for killing the Sheriff. She stood looking out the bay windows to watch the storm roll in while swirling the red wine around in her glass when she got a phone call from Deputy Shoupe.

“Rose, it’s Shoupe. Can you come down to the station and bring the kids?”

“What’s going on? Is it my husband?” her voice rose in a panic. _What happened to the gold?_

“It’s complicated and I’d rather not discuss it on the phone. How soon can you get here?”

“I’ll be there shortly,” she quickly responded before hanging up the phone. “Wheezie!” she yelled up the stairs as she set the glass down on the coffee table and scrambled to locate for her car keys, “get in the car now. Something’s come up and you need to come with me.”

Rose grabbed her purse and walked out to the shiny Volvo sedan parked in the driveway. As she turned on the car and watched for Wheezie to exit the house, she dialed the number of her lawyer.

“Carson,” she said as soon as the phone stopped ringing, “I don’t know what is going on, but something is wrong, and I need your help. Bring as much paperwork as you can to the police station- the wills, the prenup, anything that has to do with my marriage, the kids, the house- and do it quickly. I’m on my way over there with Wheezie now,” she snapped before hanging up the phone.

Rose sighed heavily, looking out the front window of the car “Wheezie, how long does it take to put a pair of shoes on and shut the front door? Good Lord,” she scoffed.

She drummed her fingertips on the dashboard as she dialed Rafe. It went to voicemail. The passenger door opened and Wheezie climbed in as Rose spoke, “Rafe, I don’t know where the hell you are, but you better get your ass to the police station as soon as you get this. Wheezie and I are headed there now.”

~

“What the hell is going on? Why did I get a call from Shoupe telling me to come down here and to bring the kids with no further explanation?” she exclaimed as soon as she pushed the interrogation room door open. Wheezie, Rafe, and Carson Jackson followed behind her.

She watches Ward stand up and address the lawyer. “Carson, thanks for coming down,” he offered his hand to shake, “but do you mind stepping outside for a moment? I need to tell my family something.”

As soon as the other man left the room, he turned and looked at his family with tears in his eyes, “Sarah is missing. She went out on a boat with John B as the storm rolled in, and we lost contact with the two of them.”

_Oh God, I need a drink,_ Rose thinks to herself. This was the last thing she needed to hear today.

She is pulled from her thoughts when Wheezie suddenly screamed, “You did this. You caused all of this. I don’t know what you had against John B, but you screwed up, Dad. You drove Sarah away and now my sister is gone!” before running out of the room.

Rose rolls her eyes, _Now is not the time to be dramatic, Wheezie._

“I’ll be back,” she lets out an exaggerated sigh, pulling the door to the interrogation room shut. She follows the brunette out into the hall and sees the young teen hunched over on the floor, her body shaking.

_Pull yourself together, Rose. Ward is crumbling and you will not let this family fail under your watch._

She stops in front of Wheezie. “What was that about?”

Wheezie lifts her head to look up at her. “Sarah’s gone! She’s probably dead in the middle of the ocean for all we know,” she cries out.

_Well no shit, Sherlock. I heard the same news you did and you don’t see me on the floor in hysterics._

“Why did we need to wait for the lawyer to get here before we could see him? Why is Dad even here? What is going on? Does this have to do with Sarah?” the girl asks as she wipes away her tears.

_I am way too sober to be having this conversation with you, kid,_ she thinks to herself.

Rose runs a hand through her hair as she tries to come up with an answer. She looks down at the girl when the words come to her.

“I don’t know why I was called here, Wheezie. That’s what I’m here to figure out with the lawyer. Now, I need to go make sure your Dad hasn’t killed Rafe,” Rose answers. She turns around to walk back towards the lawyer and her husband when she notices Deputy Shoupe step out of a room next to the interrogation room with a distressed look on his face.

“Deputy, what was the meaning of that vague phone call? What- “she cuts off when Shoupe holds up a hand to stop her rant.

“We’re doing everything we can to find Sarah, but you need to speak with your husband,” he tells her before walking down the hallway towards his desk.

She pauses in front of the closed interrogation room door and looks at the lawyer. “Just give us a few more minutes. I’ll let you know when we’re ready for you,” she tells him with a sweet smile before pushing open the door.

The first thing she sees after shutting the door is the fearful look across Rafe’s face as he tries to get off the floor and away from Ward.

“Y-y-yes, sir,” Rafe stammers out before scrambling to his feet and running out the door. Her head looks from Ward to the open door and back to him again. She slowly makes her way to the door to gently close it before turning to face him.

“What did you do?”

Ward is silent.

“I know you heard me, Ward. I may be blonde, but I am not stupid, and I wasn’t born yesterday. What the hell did I just walk into?”

He stands up and tries to walk closer when she holds her arm out.

“Absolutely not. You are not getting any closer until you tell me what you just did to Rafe!” Rose’s voice rises as she starts to panic.

She didn’t know or understand what she had walked into moments earlier, but she was beginning to question just what her husband was physically capable of doing to someone.

She watches as Ward starts frantically pacing the room. “Honey, John B knows. I spoke with him on the radio to get him to come back with Sarah, and he knows everything- that I killed Big John, that I was hunting for the Royal Merchant gold, that I have the gold.”

Her eyes widen at the revelation. “Wha- how? Where is the gold now? Do we still have it?” She takes a few steps closer to him, “What does that have to do with what I just saw you do to Rafe?”

She crosses her arms in front of her chest and waits for an answer.

Ward stops pacing and looks at her. He lets out a sigh and sits down at the table.

“Yesterday, that fuckin’ kid John B came out of nowhere as I was taking off with Sarah and the gold in that piece of shit car to try and stop the plane,” Ward’s hand clenches into a tight fist on the table, “and he’s lucky I stopped when I did.”

Rose could see that her husband was growing more agitated by the second.

“Then, Sheriff Peterkin showed up at the airstrip and tried to arrest me for Big John’s murder in front of Sarah and John B when Rafe showed up and shot Peterkin. Honey,” he flattened his hands on the table and leaned across the table to grab her hand, “it happened so fast that most of it is a blur. She was on the ground bleeding out and Rafe started spewing out shit about trying to make me proud and doing it for me. I called for help on the radio. God, Rose,” he says shaking his head, “there was so much blood. It felt like everything that happened nine months ago.”

Rose opens and closes her mouth, trying to process everything she just heard. She pulls her hand out of his grasp and stands up.

“What about the gold? Where is it now?” she asks.

“Sweetheart, I don’t know how long we have before Shoupe comes in. He and an SBI agent heard John B on the radio tell me that he knows I killed Big John. I need you to do two things for me: you need to get Rafe to the mainland and checked in to a rehab facility first thing tomorrow, and you need to lie. Do you understand? I need you to-“ Ward is cut off by a door opening and Shoupe stepping inside.

“Ward,” the deputy interrupts him, “I think I’ve given you more than enough time to speak with your family. It’s time we chat about this evening, don’t you?”

Shoupe then turns to her, “Rose, I’m sorry, but I need to ask you to leave and send that lawyer in here. Wheezie is sitting at a desk waiting for you.”

He stands with the door open, waiting for her to exit. She exchanges a worried expression with Ward as she walks through the doorway. _This was not going to end well._

Rose stops in front of Carson Jackson, “Thank you again for coming down, Carson. Ward is waiting inside for you.” She quickly walks away from him while shouldering her purse.

She calls out for Wheezie, “We’re going home.”

_Home, where several new bottles of red wine and a glass sat waiting for her to drown her problems away._

~~~

Louisa ‘Wheezie’ Cameron didn’t understand what was going on or why she was in the car going to the police station with Rose as a storm was coming in. She hadn’t seen her dad, Sarah or Rafe in several hours. Rafe often went off on his own, and she didn’t really care for him, but she was worried about her older sister. Sarah appeared very upset earlier, and the way she squeezed her tighter as they hugged more felt like a goodbye, not a see-you-later. Fear began to fill her chest as the sky opened for the storm and rain hit the car. 

~

When she walked into the interrogation room behind her mom and Rafe, she found her dad sitting at the table. As soon as he asked the lawyer to step out of the room for a few moments, Wheezie knew something was _very_ wrong.

Her dad finally speaks, “Sarah is missing. She went out on a boat with John B as the storm rolled in, and we lost contact with the two of them.”

The room is silent.

Wheezie’s jaw dropped before twisting into sadness and disgust towards her dad. Things suddenly became a little bit clearer. He is covering up something big- it would explain his strange behavior after the boat trip with John B, locking Sarah in her bedroom, Rafe’s erratic behavior…

“You did this. You caused all of this. I don’t know what you had against John B, but you screwed up, Dad. You drove Sarah away and now my sister is gone!” she screamed at him.

Her dad flinched at her raised voice. _You better flinch, you coward,_ she thought to herself. Wheezie crossed her arms in front of her, sniffling.

She cannot stand in that room any longer, so she flings the door and runs out the room.

“Wheezie,” she hears her mom call out, but she ignores her.

Wheezie stops outside the door to the ladies’ room and leans her back against the wall. Sliding down until she sits on the floor, she rests her arms on her knees, tucks her head down, and lets out a sob.

_My sister is gone_.

“What was that about?” The sound of Rose’s heels stops in front of her.

She lifts her head, “Sarah’s gone! She’s probably dead in the middle of the ocean for all we know,” she cries out. Her glasses fog up, so she pulls them off and wipes them in her shirt.

“Why did we need to wait for the lawyer to get here before we could see him? Why is Dad even here? What is going on? Does this have to do with Sarah?” Wheezie questions her mother while wiping away her tears.

“I don’t know why I was called here, Wheezie. That’s what I’m here to figure out with the lawyer. I need to go make sure your Dad hasn’t killed Rafe,” Rose answers. She turns around to walk back towards the lawyer and her husband when Deputy Shoupe steps out of a room next to the interrogation room.

Wheezie watches her mother speak to the man from her spot on the floor.

“Deputy, what was the meaning of that vague phone call? What- “

Shoupe puts up his hand to stop her. “We’re doing everything we can to find Sarah, but you need to speak with your husband.” He walks down the hallway towards her.

The deputy stops in front of her and crouches down.

“Wheezie, come with me. We’ve got more comfortable chairs here than the floor. I don’t know how long your parents will be.”

She looks at the man for a moment and considers his offer, then decides to stand up and follow him. Grabbing a tissue box, he passes it to her.

Wheezie takes the box and blows her nose. She tosses the dirty tissue in a nearby trashcan before shifting her watery eyes to the man.

“Deputy Shoupe, can you tell me what’s going on? Why is my Dad here?” she asks in a soft voice.

Letting out a deep sigh, the deputy meets her eyes. “Wheezie, I wish I could tell you what was going on, but right now, I don’t know much. I can promise you this though: I will have a team out on the water to look for your sister and John B as soon as this storm breaks.”

~~~

Rafe was spiraling. He was coming down from another high when he got the notification for a voicemail. He was terrified as he listened back to Rose’s message.

_They know I shot Sheriff Peterkin. That’s the only reason why Rose would need me at the police station._

He thought helping the cops, Topper and Kelce search for John B the night Peterkin died would ease his guilty conscious. He thought framing his sister’s Pogue boyfriend would win his dad’s admiration and approval. It was all Sarah’s fault that they were in this mess in the first place. If she didn’t get involved with the guy, none of this bullshit would have happened.

The moment he stepped foot into the police station, Rafe felt a weird sensation, like someone was watching him.

He quickly looked around and did a double-take- he saw Peterkin staring at him through the sheriff’s office window. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she shook her head at him.

Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder and jumped.

“Are you high right now?” Rose whispered as he turned around. His eyes were bloodshot, and he was fidgeting. She leaned closer, “You better sober up and fast, Rafe. Something isn’t right with your father and I need you to focus,” she said under her breath before walking away.

He turned back around- Peterkin was still standing there.

_What the actual fuck?_

Rafe glanced around for the men’s room- he needed to get out of Peterkin’s sightline and fast. He pushed through the door and found himself standing in front of the sink. He bent over to splash cold water on his face but when he stood up and looked in the mirror, Peterkin was behind him.

His eyes widen. “Oh shit,” he mutters.

He hears a knock on the bathroom door. “Rafe, we’re going to see your father. Hurry up,” Rose called out from the other side.

_What the fuck is happening?_

~

Something shifted in the air as soon as Wheezie screamed at Dad and ran out of the room. Rose left to follow her, leaving Rafe standing across the room from Ward. He could feel his hands start to twitch from the tension radiating off his dad and the cocaine wearing off.

Out of nowhere, Ward shoved him up against the wall by the shoulders and pressed his forearm against his chest.

“Are you high right now, Rafe? Was it worth it? Was the high really worth it?” Ward barks. “Everything is going to shit, and the last thing I need right now is for you to be fucking high!”

Rafe opens his mouth to respond but is cut off.

“You listen to me closely because what I’m about to tell you is probably going to save your sorry ass from the shit you pulled at the airstrip. You are going to walk out this door, go home and pack your bags. You’re checking into a rehab facility to clean up your coke problem and to mourn the loss of Sarah. As soon as this storm ends, you’re going to the mainland for treatment. Do you understand me?”

When Ward releases Rafe from his grip, the younger man bends over gasping for air. The look in his father’s eyes was borderline deadly.

He finds himself on the ground when he doesn’t respond.

“I said, do you understand me?” Ward shouts, grabbing him by the collar.

Suddenly the door opens and Rose steps inside. When she closes the door and turns around, her eyes widen at the scene in front of her.

“Y-y-yes, sir,” Rafe stammers as he scrambles away from the older man and darts out the door, barely brushing past Rose. 

As he makes his way down the hallway towards the exit, he hears Wheezie call out, “You better slow down if you don’t want to look suspicious.”

He stops in front of her when he feels someone staring at him, “Shut the fuck up, Wheezie,” Rafe hisses. He glances over his shoulder and does a double take.

Peterkin was standing at the end of the hallway.

“Get out of my head! Get the fuck out of my head!” he screams, running out of the station and into the pouring rain.

_And way down we go, oh way down we go, say way down we go, ‘cause they will run you down, down ‘til you fall, way down we go._

_~~~_

When Phillip Marvin received word that a plane took off at his private airstrip without his knowledge, he knew he needed to investigate. He wasn’t scheduled to have another plane take off from the airstrip for at least a week.

As he pulled his old pickup truck up to the small hanger where his clients stored their small aircraft, he saw the hanger door was open and that one plane was missing: the Cameron plane. The blue aircraft was nowhere to be seen.

Phillip was concerned but continued driving around the property to inspect it. From a distance, he could see some of the trees cut back further than they usually would be. He didn’t authorize the landscapers to trim the trees that far back.

Something wasn’t right and the missing Cameron plane was at the center of this problem. He parked along the runway and climbed out of the vehicle to check the runway for fresh tire tracks.

He strolled onto the runway and crouched down. Just as he suspected, a fresh set of tire tracks were on the blacktop. They looked more like skid marks, as if the vehicle was suddenly stopped. The missing plane, the trimmed trees, the skid marks- it almost looked like someone was trying to get away.

Phillip briefly looks away from the tire tracks and out to the grassy field. The first thing he sees is a fence down in the distance that would mark the property line.

What on earth?

He then spots something black laying in the grass a few yards away.

“Oh shit,” he says aloud as he stops a few feet away from the object. A standard issue police pistol lay there on his property and he doesn’t know where it came from.

He backs away from the weapon and dials the non-emergency number for Kildare County’s police department. He pulls the ballcap off his head and starts running a hand through his balding hair as the phone rings.

A few moments later, a friendly female voice answers, “Thank you for calling Kildare County Police Department’s Non-Emergency line. How may I direct your call?”

“Hi, my name is Phillip Marvin, I run the private airstrip in the county. I got a phone call not too long ago about a plane taking off without my knowledge and when I came to check it out, I found what looks to be a police pistol laying on the grass next to the runway. I’m very concerned that it may be involved in something bad. Could y’all send someone here to check it out and collect it?”

“Of course, thank you for the tip. I’ll dispatch someone to the airstrip immediately,” the woman politely answers.

He released a nervous sigh. _What the hell happened here?_

~

Twenty-five minutes later, Phillip saw a police car pull into the parking lot and two officers climb out. He put the ballcap back on his head and wiped his sweaty palms against his jeans before walking towards the officers.

“Good afternoon, sir. Are you Phillip Marvin?” one asked.

“Yes, that’s me,” he replied as he held out a hand to shake each officer’s hand.

“My name is Officer Davis, and this is my partner, Officer Beckett. Can you show us where you found the weapon?”

Phillip nodded and beckoned the two to follow him. Davis had a small notepad in his hand with a pencil while Beckett pulled on a pair of gloves and a bag. When they reached the firearm on the ground, Officer Becket crouched down to photograph the area on a phone before checking the safety and bagging the weapon.

“Mr. Marvin, the dispatcher mentioned that you got a phone call about a plane taking off here without your knowledge, so you came to check the area out. Can you tell me what you found?” Officer Davis asked him, ready to take notes.

After retracing his steps and telling the officers what he noticed, they left. Phillip knew he did the right thing. If the gun was part of an accident, he did not want his fingerprints found anywhere near the weapon.

But the question remained: what the hell does Ward Cameron’s missing plane have to do with all this mess?

~~~

Deputy Shoupe had a raging headache. From John B taking off in a police car and a storm coming in, to losing two kids in a boat chase and hearing the young man accuse Ward Cameron of killing his father and framing him for the Sheriff’s murder, nothing was going right under his watch.

He just witnessed Ward shove Rafe against the wall of the interrogation room and tell him that he was shipping off to the mainland in the morning for treatment after something occurred at the airstrip. The Cameron men were hiding something, and he needed to find out what it was.

Resting his head in his hands, he let out a deep grown. _What would Susan Peterkin do in this situation?_

“Deputy Shoupe,” someone called out, causing him to pick up his head.

“Yes, what’s going on?”

Officers Davis and Beckett approached his desk. “We received a phone call from the Kildare Airstrip this afternoon about a police weapon that was found. We checked the number and it belongs to Sheriff Peterkin,” explained Officer Beckett.

Davis continued, “We took it to forensics to see if we could ID the fingerprints on it so we could find out who might have had possession of the gun and pulled three different fingerprints from it.”

That information piqued Shoupe’s interest, “what did they find?”

“Sheriff Peterkin’s fingerprints were found on it, along with two other unidentifiable sets,” Beckett responded.

_I think I have an idea of who one of those fingerprint sets belong to_ , Shoupe said to himself.

“Good work, you two. You may have just given me a big lead for a case. Can you run those prints through the juvenile records system for me and let me know if anything comes up?” He claps a hand on Davis’ arm in thanks.

A burst of adrenaline suddenly fills him as he pushes his desk chair back and strides back down the hallway. He twists the knob to the interrogation room open and steps inside.

“Ward, I think I’ve given you more than enough time to speak with your family. It’s time we chat,” Shoupe informs Ward before turning to the man’s wife. “Rose, I’m sorry, but I need to ask you to step out the room.

~~~  
Lana Grubbs was ready to confess. After seeing the signs up around town for John B’s arrest, she knew she needed to do something. The boy deserved peace knowing that his father’s killer was brought to justice, even if she was terrified of what might happen to her.

The morning after the storm, she walked into the police station with her head down. 

“Excuse me, I’m looking for Deputy Shoupe,” she says, stopping at the receptionist’s desk.

The receptionist barely looks up, “What do you need him for?”

“I have information for a case that I think he will find very valuable.” 

“Regarding?”

“I have information to share with Deputy Shoupe, so if you could please point me in his direction, I would greatly appreciate it.”

~

Deputy Shoupe strolled into the room with a glass of water and set it in front of Lana.

“So, what brings you down here, Lana?” He sits in the chair opposite her.

Lana takes a deep breath to calm her nerves. _It’s the moment of truth._

She meets the deputy’s eyes, “I have information regarding the death of Big John Routledge. I know who killed him.” Lana pauses to take a sip of water before continuing, “It was Ward Cameron. He killed Big John and I heard him tell my husband this 9 months ago.”

Shoupe wasn’t surprised this news, but he needed more. It confirmed what he heard John B scream at Ward over the radio the day before during the storm. Ward played the grieving father card well last night by denying everything, but after witnessing the dramatic shift in behavior between his moment with Rafe through the one-way glass, the deputy was certain that he was lying about something.

He leaned forward to rest his arms on the table, “Why come forward now?”

“Because I told Sheriff Peterkin this same information two days ago and now, she’s dead. I don’t think John B would ever kill anyone, especially Peterkin, and I cannot live with the knowledge that the man who killed that young man’s father is walking around like he did nothing.” Lana’s voice became more confident the more she spoke.

She no longer wanted to live in fear. She lost her husband during this hunt for gold that Ward was insistent truly existed. John B lost his father. And now John B had a bounty on his head.

Lana launched into the story she told Sheriff Peterkin and John B a few days earlier. As she spoke, Shoupe took note of the details that lined up with the information he already obtained.

_Ward Cameron, I am coming for you,_ he thought as he processed everything he was told.

Fifteen minutes after she started her story, Lana stopped to take a deep breath.

“That is what I know, Deputy Shoupe. It is 9 months too late, but I hope it makes a difference in your case,” she concludes with a watery smile.

Shoupe stands up and offers Lana a hand to shake.

“Thank you, Lana, thank you. I appreciate you coming forward with this information,” he tells her with a sincere smile.

As she exits the station and walks back to her car, she feels considerably lighter. It was not only because of the sun shining bright after a storm. The weight of Big John’s death was finally off her shoulders. Ward Cameron’s fate was now in the hands of the law.

~

Shoupe sat in the interrogation room after Lena left the station. He had his feet propped up on the table and a smile across his face. The words John B yelled over the radio echoed in his head: _Ward Cameron, I’m coming for you._

“John B, wherever you are, I’ll take care of Ward for you. Don’t you worry, kid.”

~~~

John B and Sarah didn’t die that stormy night. They made it to Nassau on Captain Terrence’s boat and were laying low in the Bahamas. They managed to secure a rental house, some fresh clothes, and under-the-radar jobs as they waited to make their next move.

A week after their arrival to the Caribbean island, the pair lay under the stars in one of the nearby beach resort’s hammocks. Sarah’s head rested above John B’s heart as they listened to the waves crashing up and pulling back out to sea.

She’s curled on her side, while he’s on his back playing with some of her hair, when she suggests they contact the Pogues by letter. They had no clue how else to contact them without raising suspicion, but they needed to tell Kie, JJ, and Pope that they were alive. John B and Sarah escaped as shit hit the fan and they needed to find out what was going on back home. The Pogues were the only people they could trust with the knowledge that they were alive.

“What do we tell them?” John B stops playing with her hair.

“We tell them the truth- we survived and found ourselves on a boat for the Bahamas; that my dad killed your father; that Rafe shot Sheriff Peterkin; that my dad put the gold on a private plane to fly it to the Bahamas for Caribbean National Bank to collect,” Sarah replies.

John B nods, “Then that’s what we tell them. We’ll mail it tomorrow.”

The next day they dropped a letter to Kie in the mailbox with a return address labeled as Bird and Princess. They explained how the Phantom took a major hit during the storm, but they survived and were rescued by a fishing boat headed towards Nassau. They were okay and were continuing to search for the gold. Most importantly, they needed the Pogues to know that John B was innocent. Sarah left a Skype name for them to communicate with once the Kie received the letter and hoped that it wouldn’t be intercepted before it arrived.

“I wonder how long it takes for mail to get from here to the U.S.,” John B wondered aloud as he laced his fingers with Sarah’s.

“I don’t know, but at least we have a way to contact them,” replied Sarah. She pulled the sunglasses off the top of her head and covered her eyes. “Come on, Vlad, we have some treasure hunting to do,” She tells him, tugging his hand to lead him out of the building and into the Caribbean sun.

~~~

Kie didn’t ever receive mail, so the day she found an envelope sitting on her bed was a little bit out of the ordinary. She just returned home from a shift at the restaurant two and a half weeks after John B and Sarah disappeared.

Picking the envelope up, she quickly glanced over the return address without a second thought.

_Bird and Princess? What the hell is this about?_ She tossed the envelope aside to look at it later, but she paused.

“Where have I heard Bird used before as a nickname?” she muttered.

Kie’s eyes suddenly widen.

“Oh my gosh,” she squeaks before scrambling across her bed to grab the piece of mail. “There’s no fucking way,” she rips the envelope open and pulls out the handwritten note.

Her eyes skim across the words as she lets out a tearful cry. Her suspicions were confirmed: John B and Sarah were alive.

Kie grabs her phone and texts JJ and Pope, _meet at John B’s place ASAP._

She shoves the letter into a bag, grabs her car keys, and runs to her car.

~

As soon as she pulls up to John B’s house, she sees Pope and JJ sitting on the steps. She barely had the car in park when she threw the door open and ran towards the boys.

“Kie! What’s with the vague messages?” JJ calls out when he sees her running towards them.

She reaches into her bag and shoves the letter into Pope’s hands. “Read this, just read it,” she exclaimed with tears in her eyes.

Pope and JJ exchange a confused glance as they unfold the paper and start to silently read.

“Oh shit,” JJ whispers, “Oh shit!” He grabs Kie around her waist and spins her around, “They’re alive! They’re fuckin’ alive!”

Pope stands there in shock, “Guys, they left a Skype name at the end. We need to message them!”

~

That night, the remaining Pogues sat in the Chateau around Kie’s iPad as they anxiously waited for their Skype call to connect to Sarah and John B.

The moment the video connects and the couple appears on the screen, Kie bursts into tears.

“I’m just so happy to see you guys,” she cries out, leaning her head against Pope’s shoulder.

For an hour and a half, she, JJ and Pope listened as their friends describe the events since their disappearance.

“What’s going on at home?” Sarah asked, shifting the conversation.

Kie watched her exchange a nervous look with John B. _Right, they didn’t know what had happened since they took off on The Phantom._

She opens her mouth to answer when JJ interrupts.

“Well, my dad was super pissed to find out from the Coast Guard that The Phantom was destroyed, and when they told him, apparently he was completely wasted and threw a bunch of bottles at the guys, so he was arrested for assault and battery. I’ve been crashing here or at Pope’s for the time being. Haven’t seen the guy in weeks,” he tells them while lighting up a joint and taking a smoke.

John B nods, “Well it went through a storm and took a real beating, man. I’m just glad there were life jackets because those definitely saved us.”

Sarah agrees, then nervously speaks up, “What’s going on with my dad?”

“Oh, Sarah, the guy is in deep shit,” Kie answers her friend.

She watches the blonde bite her lip before straightening out her facial expression through the screen. Her heart breaks a little extra for Sarah and what she’s experiencing emotionally.

Pope picks up where Kie left off.

“Yeah, he was arrested for both Big John’s and Peterkin’s murders at the house last week. They searched the entire house. Found some weird stuff too. Apparently, the night of the storm, Shoupe and an SBI agent were listening to him talk to you over the radio, JB, and got suspicious when you told him that you knew he killed your dad. Lana Grubbs went to Shoupe the day after the storm and told him everything she knew too. It’s bad, but he’s getting what he deserves.”

She smacks his shoulder and gives him a look, “He’s still her dad, you moron. That’s not your place.”

Sarah smiles at them.

“No, it’s okay, Kie. Thank you though,” she pauses before speaking again. “But my dad didn’t kill Peterkin. Rafe did. John B and I saw it happen! What about Rafe?”

Sarah’s voice rose with worry. She bit her lip again and leaned against John B, who wrapped an arm around her and started rubbing circles on her shoulder.

JJ pulled the joint away from his mouth to answer, “Last we heard, the asshole was on the mainland getting set up in rehab. Took off the day after you guys left. Haven’t seen him since and we’re not complaining.”

Kie watched as John B and Sarah exchange a look. _If Ward was arrested for Big John’s murder, that meant that John B was no longer considered a risk, right?_

Her thoughts were interrupted by Pope.

“Wait, you both are the only other witnesses to Peterkin’s death besides Ward, right?”

She could see the gears turning in his head but didn’t know where he was going with this train of thought.

The couple nodded through the screen.

“I have an idea and it might sound crazy, but we’ve done a lot of crazy this summer, so hear me out,” Pope holds his hands up.

John B sits back in his chair and pulls Sarah with him, letting out a short laugh. “I’m listening.”

“What if we have you Skype Shoupe and you tell him everything you saw that day at the airstrip?” he proposes.

His question is met with a few beats of silence. Glancing around, he sees JJ shifting in his seat as he takes another hit of the joint; Kie is leaning back on her hands with a thoughtful look across her face; John B and Sarah look at each other with raised eyebrows before looking at the camera again.

The blonde girl finally speaks up.

“Tell us more. How do you propose we do that?”

~~~

** 3 months later **

The once well-respected Guardian of Knights of the Rhododendron now sat in a cell at Kildare County Jail waiting to get transferred to a mainland prison. Ward Cameron was found guilty of Big John’s murder. Lana Grubbs’ testimony was the final nail in the coffin of his fate. She told Deputy Shoupe everything she knew, Rafe pleaded insanity for killing Sheriff Peterkin and was enrolled in a rehab facility to get clean. The last he had heard, the young man was making some progress in the program. Wheezie refused to see him.

The time since his arrest to his trial and conviction was spent reflecting on his actions and everything that brought him to the present. His childhood was a lot like John B’s in that he lived in The Cut while his parents worked year-round to support their family, but that was where the similarities ended. He worked tirelessly to get himself out of The Cut once he graduated from UNC unlike his childhood friend and fishing partner, John ‘Big John’ Routledge.

Ward Cameron prided himself on being a smart but tough businessman. His tough attitude unfortunately led to a temper that contributed significantly to his present situation. Starting an argument with Big John on a boat was a poor decision and by allowing his temper to get the best of him, he lost an old friend and partner that day. The afternoon he slid the man’s body into the ocean was the same afternoon he put the search for the Royal Merchant’s gold to rest. Ward would carry his guilt with him to the grave.

Becoming John B’s legal guardian when the young man needed an adult figure in his life was supposed to be his penance for killing Big John. He never intended to eavesdrop on the conversation between him and Sarah that July afternoon, but the 16-year-old suddenly became his one shot at finding the gold once again.

He intended for the fishing trip to put John B at ease and, hopefully, confide in him what he knew about his father’s treasure hunt. When Ward didn’t get any information out of him, he took matters into his own hands and began pressing for details. His temper quickly overcame him as they began dodging the other on the boat.

He forgot just how well John B knew the _My Druthers_. The boy was lucky he could speed away on the jet ski when he could.

Ward had no one to blame except himself for the behavior that impacted so many people he loved- his anger-and-money-fueled actions were the very ones that ripped John B’s father away from him almost a year ago. The pressure he put on Rafe to get his act together led his oldest down a dark road that ended in a cocaine addiction. Lana Grubbs lost her husband because he sent Scooter out to continue looking for the gold. Sarah chose her boyfriend over him and was probably dead in the middle of the ocean.

His temper and greed got him to where he was now. He accepted that prison was his future and as difficult of a pill as that was to swallow, he was at peace.

A guard stops in front of Ward’s cell and unlocks it, breaking him out of his thoughts. “You’ve got a visitor.”

He stands up to follow the man down the hallway that spills into the visitor’s room. When he reaches the doorway, his movement halts.

A wave of anger he hadn’t felt in almost three months overwhelms him when his eyes landed on the people waiting.

Sarah Cameron and John B Routledge are standing there with visitor’s badges clipped to their shirts.

He had a sneaking suspicion that they were alive when the Coast Guard found the sinking boat in the Atlantic without any life jackets, but he couldn’t believe they actually came back.

Lunging forward to attack the young man, he yelled, “You’ve got a lot of nerve showing your face here, son. Taking my daughter away from me, disappearing for months,” before he was subdued by the guards.

Sarah jumped, throwing her arm out instinctively to stop her boyfriend from causing any problems. She gives him a firm look and silently tells him that she’s got the situation under control.

The guards push her dad down into the seat and handcuff him to the table before retreating to the perimeter of the room.

Ward rests his head in his hands and lets out a defeated breath.

_Holy shit, am I hallucinating?_

He rubs his eyes and lifts his head to meet his daughter’s hard eyes and clenched jaw.

Sarah carefully sits herself across from him while John B stands behind her with his arms cross in front of his chest.

“H-how? How are you alive, sweetheart? How are you even here?” he asks in astonishment as tears threaten to spill out of his eyes. A storm of emotions fills his chest- relief, joy, pain, and thanksgiving.

_Sarah’s alive_.

“And you,” he directs his eyes to John B, “how are you not in handcuffs?”

The young man gives him no indication that he heard his question. His gaze remained fixed on the blonde sitting on the bench across from him.

Sarah glances down at her folded hands before letting out a deep breath and meeting her father’s eyes. “We won’t be long; I know you’re getting transferred to the mainland. To answer your question, it’s a miracle that we survived the storm and were rescued by a passing boat. And it isn’t important why John B isn’t in handcuffs. I know Rafe pleaded insanity and is in a rehab program. Rose knows that I’m here. She told me that since Rafe was declared unfit as the heir to the estate, Wheezie and I are getting pretty much everything, including the money from the gold in the offshore account at Caribbean National,” she states. “Thank you for that, by the way. You know that I was never the biggest fan of Rose, but you should be happy to know that I spoke to the lawyer and made sure that she will be very comfortable,” Sarah explained, a fake smile plastered across her face. 

She continued, “The money from the gold is going to be split among my friends and me. I’ve set up a trust fund for all of us, so we won’t have access to the full amount until we’re 21. They helped John B find it, and they deserve their cut of it.” John B uncrosses his arms to lay a hand on her shoulder and give it a gentle squeeze. She looks up over her shoulder to offer him a soft smile before focusing back on the older man.

Ward lets out a defeated sigh. His oldest daughter was like her mother in many ways. It wasn’t just the blonde hair and brown eyes that were identical to his deceased first wife. Sarah’s courage, selflessness, and stubbornness came from her, too. A fresh set of tears reached his eyes and he quickly wiped them away before the teenagers could see.

Sarah stands up, signaling to the guards that she is nearly finished with her visit.

“One more thing,” she says fixing her steely eyes on him while reaching for her boyfriend’s hand. “I don’t know who you are anymore or why you became this way. You became someone so fixated on money that you lost track of your soul and what I thought mattered to you, like your family. You aren’t my dad anymore. You only gave me some of your DNA, a brother who killed the sheriff, and a great 16 years of life before you destroyed it because of your greed. The only thing I can really thank you for now is for becoming the legal guardian to John B even though you killed his father and framed him, because he is one of the few people I can trust now. He is more selfless and honest and more of a man than you were those last few days before we disappeared.”

The guards unlock his handcuffs from the table as he stands up.

“Sweetheart,” Sarah meets his eyes, “I’m sorry for everything I’ve done to hurt you and your friends. I know it doesn’t fix anything, but I love you. You’re going to do incredible things, I’m sure of it. Your mother would be so proud,” he tells her with sad smile but his pride evident in his voice.

Ward then looks in the young man’s direction.

“John B, saying I’m sorry won’t undo any of the mistakes I’ve made, but you kept my daughter safe, and for that, I am so grateful. Please take good care of her for me,” the older man requests, his eyes pleading to him.

John B nods his head and wraps an arm around Sarah’s waist, “Yes sir. You have my word.”

As the officers led him out of the visiting area, Ward looks over his shoulder to watch the teenagers stand at the exit waiting for the door to unlock. John B is bent down whispering something in Sarah’s ear while rubbing her shoulder with his thumb.

He stopped walking and watched the young couple exit the room. At that moment, he was happy. He knew Sarah was alive, John B would take care of her, and they would be comfortable for a long time.

~

Ward Cameron would spend the rest of his life knowing that he disgraced his family’s name. Restoring the Cameron name would be a long uphill battle, but if anyone was capable of the job, it was Sarah. With his downfall and failure, Sarah found her voice and could do something good in the world with it. He deserved everything that happened to him.

_And way down we go, way down we go. Say way down we go, ooh, way down we go._

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to the amazing people in the OBX fandom on Tumblr for sharing your ideas with me as I wrote this! You know who you are. 
> 
> Other fics and drabbles can be found on my Tumblr: alexandracheers.tumblr.com


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